jokin

He's crushed AAA pitching in the past. Two possibilities besides "attitude": 1) tinkering with his approach at the plate 2) something still physically bothering him

Looking a little less likely after tonight....!

I think the Di thing in America has a strong correlation almost exclusively to females and British expats. In my experience, whenever the subject of the royals has come up over the years at get-togethers- either before or after Di's demise, the males tended to refrain from comment, or evacuate the immediate area as quickly as possible.

Umm, everyone KNOWS that chicks dig the longball... And why is it that you often don't quit when you're clearly ahead? There's no "fair" when it comes to instances of fainting symptoms. Syncope is definitely more prevalent in females than males. (True story..... Flying home yesterday evening, a young gal of 21 years of age, literally fainted at my feet right in the aisle of the 737. As flattered as I wish were the case, women tend to have lower blood pressure, higher estrogen levels, and are more subject to certain triggers than males. In this particular instance, alas, it was likely more related to the Washington DC Heat Index of 103 degrees.than my "glory days" reminiscences.)

I think George Santayana had something to say on this subject.

Yep. The one game I saw down there, Walker hit a homer deep and high to right center, the one area of the park where the wall is a bit lower. That game saw both Sano and Polanco settle for XBH on balls hit very high off the walls, balls that surely would have been home runs in most every major league park. Plus the wind usually blows in from left or center. Without benefit of spray charts, I would have to think that both Walker and Sano have probably lost a half dozen home runs due to the park factors in Chattanooga.

Spending his peak physical years in the minors "doesn't matter at all"? Beg to differ. I don't like the Twins automatic default to the "take the full 6 years" approach to development, and I'm not a big fan of them having their guys wasting bullets putting up ridiculous numbers at a competitive level they clearly can gain little from. Burdi is far from the perfect comp to Hildenberger, but I would tend to think Burdi would have benefited and accelerated his career track by starting out last season in Ft Myers and then on to New Britain to finish up (or done 3 levels). It's quite possible through the heightened challenge, he would have garnered more experience, feedback and data to put to good use in the offseason on getting more advanced hitters out, and possibly avoided some of this year's bumps in the roads in the process. Obviously, Hildengerger was only a 22nd rounder, but Mike Fiers of the Brewers was drafted in the same round, exact same height and weight as Hildenberger- but one year older, while playing at a clearly lower college competitive level- Nova Southeastern vs. Cal-Berkeley- as in the case of Hildenberger. Of course, no pitcher is quite the same, but as Fiers dominated the minors like Hildenberger has, he was quickly advanced to the next level- 3 levels his rookie year, 2 levels (A+ and AA) plus the AFL his second year. AA and AAA his third year, with a September call-up in that 3rd year as a pro. I'd hate to needlessly wait to a 2019 debut for Hildenberger at 28.5 years of age, if, if he could help the Twins as early as late September, 2016 at age 25.5 (I'm sure he wouldn't like it either). What if he can start meaningfully helping the club at age 26, instead? That matters, alot. The only way to find out for certain if he can or not, is to tweak the developmental philosophy a bit. I would think a guy sticking around for half a season and producing ungodly GB (56%), LD (9%) and K (34%) rates to go with a 0.54 ERA is just spinning his wheels.

I'm guessing you didn't watch a lot of the game, then?

Hildenberger is 24.5 years of age- 2 years too old for A-ball. There were health issues in college, but the Twins must not think too much of him as a prospect, even after this level of dominance. If he was, it seems like he should have been moved up already- the ridiculous numbers and his age suggest he should be a guy who plays through 3 levels this year. 24.5 is the average age for pitchers in AA.

The velo was down tonight, but no matter, a little luck, a little guile- and a lot of good plays in the OF behind him. (tonight's Cubs BABIP was .048.) But still, as long as the Twins are in the playoff hunt, they can't think about dealing Pelfrey- with Hughes, Nolasco and Santana all still with ?s on their foreheads.

Valid points, all. I'll counter with this: The Cards phenomenal run of success in the draft under Luhnow was more than another arb play, especially in the later rounds. That success has continued at Houston. The Cubs have both drafted and traded very shrewdly to get to where they are now The Twins are just behind these two clubs in terms of farm strength. But- Their "greatest" trade of this decade? Fuld for Milone? The draft philosophy is intuitively obvious to the average layman. The FA signing situation has gone from "Nobody wants to come here" to "Try to sign as many ex-Twins as possible... and overpay for the guys who most everyone else doesn't really want.... and then extend them."

The team needs offensive production, agreed. But they also need a lock-down CF. He's already major league elite on defense and on the basepaths. I highly doubt that there's any threat to Buxton's career being sabotaged by this call-up. He's largely been facing some very tough pitchers in his first 5 games. Let's give it some more time, this kid has the will to succeed, I'm guessing that he will make adjustments and start laying off more of the breaking balls out of the zone.

Not sure that's true. Hold on there, Cowboy! Let's remember that Kepler has been on some hot streaks this year, but this latest one was AFTER Buxton was promoted. Besides Buxton's elite-level defense, Buxton definitely outhit Kepler during the time they were on the team together, here's the hit comp from 4/22 until the Buck call-up: Buxton 4/22-6/12: Slash .304/.372/.529/(.901) ISO .225 wOBA .406 Kepler 4/22-6/12: Slash .305/.361/.491/(.852) ISO .186 wOBA .389

I've worked in the field, and in times past, I could watch the tape and when a strange set of trades were coming across, you could tell when the quantitative arbitrageurs were executing a strategy. It wasn't like Big Blue vs Kasparov, more like Einstein vs. Curly, Larry & Moe. I don't like the long-term odds of the "Theo vs.", or the "Luhnow vs.", the Dave, Wayne and Rob equivalent to the "Einstein vs." comp.

Assuming MLB's antiturst exemption still being important, I would think that the League will come down hard on the Cardinals in terms of penalties. But the principal(s) involved will probably plea down the worst accusations.

Yep. In this instance, Tim Stauffer comes to mind. The Astros turned out to be right on Aiken. Meanwhile, the Twins drafted a diabetic pitcher with ongoing shoulder problems who appears to be in the midst of a current minor implosion (based on Bryce Zimmerman's account in his recent appearance... hopefully only temporary, but still...)..

Sig Mejdal, again. Hence, the reason for the Astros hiring of a physicist.

I was watching in the 9th inning today, and just for luck, I quoted David Ortiz. just to get him going: <"They tell me to swin' like a lil' girl, I swin' like a lil' girl"> It worked. He was sitting on that curve and golfed it out... What a great day at the ball park! I hope they can somehow figure out a way to have both Kennys and Miguel up here.

I think that you saw what I saw in early May. He made the tough plays that day and booted an easy one. I'm thinking he's a bit distracted by the rash of call-ups, including Buck. He is living an ongoing "reality show" existence. Having to say something to a camera every day is probably more than a little distracting at times like this.

This was just one game. He's done really well since April 30. He has a June OPS of .881 and a June sOBA of .416. Hard to call that scuffling.

You don't, but the implications of the "crime" can potentially go far beyond just the under-dress-peaking. Intellectual property theft costs the US economy close to $250B each year. MacAfee and the Center for Strategic and International Studies filed a joint report in 2013 that estimated that 500,000 US jobs are lost each year due to hacking/theft of intellectual property. And then there's the whole "Integrity of the Game" being in question, huge financial implications in that regard- TV revenue, advertising, sponsors, gambling. In this particular case, there's little doubt that $Millions, probably $10s of Millions, is dedicated annually to developmental costs and ongoing salaries based around a team's proprietary intellectual property. What's especially shocking is the fact that the Old Boys Club, that is MLB, chose to bring in the FBI. The implication here being, that they presumably made inquiries among the owners beforehand, and apparently that the Cardinals weren't forthcoming- the guilty parties could have been held accountable, saved the embarrassment, and had the whole "victimless crime" swept under the rug. Is the government wasting time here? Here's the Department of Justice list of intellectual property crimes and activities, big and small, just for 2014:

But just one season for Buck. I'm thinking it's going to be an ongoing issue for Kepler- he missed more time again this year in April- until it isn't. It could simply be a matter of growing into his body and additional weight training that helps make the difference.

... Peterson...etc?

Isn't that going to be the main issue for Kepler going forward? He simply hasn't been able to avoid the injury-bug, seems like he's always been on and off of the DL or rehabbing something. The most games he's played so far in one season was 102 last year in Ft Myers.

Having seen Kepler play in early May, he appears to have made an adjustment to his approach at the plate, starting last season. He definitely is swinging more for the gaps than the fences, and using all fields more- and it is a very tight, sweet stroke. He looked to be a very fine athlete among the group of some pretty incredible athletes. I'm not sure if he is faster than Walker- probably so, but he was playing 1B while Walker was in the OF, and while Walker looked fine out there, Kepler's definitely more polished. Disagree on Sano, he would be fine in the OF, his arm would make up for some of the miscues, but there are definitely much better options defensively going forward. But still, the net tradeoff in offensive production still would probably favor Sano playing in RF if the Twins are unwilling to clear out the current corner infielders. One thing for sure, there isn't room enough for all of the guys coming up from Chattanooga, plus the current crop on the major league roster.